book release: The starlit Road

Available now

I haven't posted a blog in years because I didn't want to return empty handed. I wasn't going to talk about the long, hard years between releases or my personal life. I wanted to bring you another book... and here it is! 

The Starlit Road has been in the works for 10 years. I've done an enormous amount of crafting, plotting and worldbuilding. I even created an entire language and writing system with a full dictionary that I'll make available. 

My goals for this series are vibrant and far-reaching. 
I wanted to construct a world so immersive that I could tell stories within it for the rest of my life. The Starlit Road is the first step on a long journey into a rich and mysterious universe. 

Many locations in this book were sourced from my dreams. But maybe I'll talk more about that later. Needless to say, the characters, the story and the world are very near and dear to me. 

Making the Cover & Map

When I first released my previous series, The War of Princes, as an indie author, I'd painted my maps and the covers of Haven, Dragoon and Monarch in Photoshop with a Wacom tablet. Readers used to let me know they liked the personal touch, so I decided to do that again. 

The cover of The Starlit Road was an idea I scribbled down years ago. I'm a nature artist... I don't really draw people, but I couldn't get this idea of polarity out of my head. So I ran with it, and painstakingly painted my cover with my iPad in Procreate. 

The map was also drawn on iPad in Procreate. Instead of using a font, I wrote everything out by hand. With both the map and the cover, there was a lot of trial an error but I love how they both turned out. 

Djakeni Writing: A Sample

The two scrawling words on the bottom right of the map read, "Tzav'ezen" and "Estdra'veltd". Tzav'ezen is the name of the world, which translates to, "The Totality."

​Estdra'veltd means Lifeline Island, or Savior Island. Some of Djakeni's td's are broken up outside of formal translations, making the common spelling, Estra'veld. 

What About The War of Princes series?

Now that The Starlit Road is out and available, I'll be turning my full attention to working on the third edition of Haven and the entire War of Princes quadrilogy. In 2025, me and Alloy Entertainment parted ways. I am so grateful for all the work I did with them, my editors were magnificent and talented. But over the years I continued to receive mail from readers asking for paperback copies. My deal with Alloy was exclusively digital and my attempts at negotiating for paperback copies weren't fruitful. So I stepped away, returning to indie where I can give my readers what they want: copies of this beloved series that they can hold in their hands. I've gotta say, it was neat getting royalty checks from Warner Bros. while it lasted, but I'm much happier being able to connect directly with my audience, do giveaways again and sign some copies from time to time. 

Thank You...

Every single reader who has picked up one of my books, every friend or family member who has shared my work, all the folks at Alloy and my wonderful former agent, Jill Marsal, for believing in me and my stories.
All I want to do is write books forever. You've all helped me achieve that and I want to continue from here on out. 

NOW STOP MAKING ME EMOTIONAL, I HAVE WORK TO DO! lmao

All yours,

​A.R. Ivanovich