Gabriela Romero-Lacruz Books In Order

Publication Order of The Warring Gods Books

Gabriela Romero Lacruz
Gabriela Romero Lacruz was born and raised in Venezuela, and is the author of “The Sun and the Void”, the #1 Sunday Times bestselling novel.

Gabriela graduated from the University of Houston with a BS in chemical engineering and, after a stint in Oil and Gas, launched The Moonborn, an accessories, clothing, and stationery brand that features her own illustrations.

Gabriela writes twisty and dark fantasy stories that are set in places which remind her of home, so in her mind, she is never that far away from the mountains and beaches of Venezuela. She also illustrates book covers for certain select clients.

She was inspired to write “The Sun and the Void” because she’s always loved secondary fantasy. And in devouring these stories, she noticed how they used British, Japanese, and Roman history, mythology, and folklore as the foundation for their secondary worlds and magic systems. So the idea of seeing a magical world which drew inspiration from Venezuelan folklore and history was really exciting to Gabriela. So she decided to write it just for herself, for the nerds just like her that grew up loving worlds like those in Final Fantasy but had their existence largely ignored by the mainstream media.

A big aspect of writing “The Sun and the Void” was to create this world which could feature the diverse cultures and biomes of Venezuela. She was driven to illustrate to the world that they have this country of varied and beautiful landscapes, imaginative folklore, and diverse peoples born out of a blend of its indigenous, Spanish, and African roots.

Gabriela’s mom is from the Andes and her dad is Afro-Caribbean from the coast, and while she was growing up she spent equal amounts of time immersed in both of these cultures.

Since her huge family was scattered all over Venezuela, they also spent a bunch of time driving from the paramo to the coast, crossing the Llanos; which gave Gabriela the privilege of experiencing many geographies and cities for herself. Which greatly helped her build the diverse world that she wanted to portray in this story.

Writing about Venezuela has also helped her reconnect with a culture that she feels like she’s losing, from the simple fact that she is no longer immersed in it. She has found great escapism in writing stories set here, as it’s helped her deal with a homesickness she’s been carrying since she had to leave her country. It’s been exciting for her to reconnect with the history and language when she researches folktales from the Llanos like El Silbon or superstitions like the Momoy from Trujillo.

The rock based magic system came about because Gabriela is a chemical engineer, and since people always say to write what you know, that’s what she did. She was attempting to figure out a way to fit her training into her fiction, and decided to use this magic system that had a chemistry feel to it. It is not a direct alchemy system but it does sort of feel that way. Galio, litio, and bismuto are gallium, lithium, and bismuth. She was just looking up some cool earth metals.

She also wanted the novel to have fantasy races, like orcs and elves, but she wanted to create her own. So she decided on using antlers, since they are a popular motif in musica llanera, or music from the llanos. It just evolved naturally from there: two races with animal like qualities. She wanted the valcos to be strong and have antlers.

For the nozariels, she wondered about them having a tail. However since it’s a society which gets colonized by humans, the proper way to appear physically is to have a human like appearance. So cutting the tail off is a way to subjugate and enslave nozariels. Despite slavery getting abolished and they are “free” to do whatever they want, the nozariels still continue cutting their tails off as a way to pass as human in such a society. She believed readers could possibly draw some interesting parallels with the passing that we all must do.

“The Sun and the Void” is the first novel in the “Warring Gods” series and was released in 2023. Two women embark on this unforgettable quest into a world of ancient magic and dark gods in this sweeping fantasy debut novel that was inspired by the folklore and history of colonial South America.

Reina is desperate. Reina is stuck on the edges of society and her only hope lies in this invitation from a grandma that she has never met before. However the journey to her is pretty dangerous, and prayer is not always able to avert disaster.

Attacked by the creatures that stalk the mountains, Reina is close to death up until her grandma, who is a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Dona’s magic for her life, Reina will do anything she has to in order to earn (and keep) her favor. Even the bidding of this ancient god that whispers to her at night.

Eva Kesare is unwanted. Eva is of mixed heritage and illegitimate, and is the shame of her family. She really does try to be the perfect daughter, however she is hiding a secret: Magic calls out to her.

Eva realizes that she should really just fight the temptation. Magic’s the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. But it is difficult to ignore power when it’s always been denied to you. Eva’s walking a dangerous path. And in the end, she will become something that she never even imagined.

This is a gorgeous epic about power and family, longing and betrayal, and gods and magic. Gabriela delivers a captivating and evocative novel, one that is an enchanting story about dangerous magic, ancient gods, family, and love. This is an imaginative, unique read that is filled with rich descriptions. Gabriela has created a dangerous yet beautiful world which feels familiar yet still new. The use of Spanish sprinkled throughout helps to cement the feel of a faraway place without ever being out of reach for somebody with a modicum of understanding of the language.