By: David James
Publication Date: December 13, 2025
Publisher: Trash Panda Publishing
ISBN: 979-8999979940
Reviewed by: Lily Andrews
Review Date: February 5, 2026
"No matter how innocent the deed, no faerie was permitted to meddle with the True Cycle of mortal lives. In the eyes of the court, compassion itself was a crime. The law was absolute..."
Escala’s Wish (Tales of Valla Book 1) by David James is a debut fantasy-romance you might pick expecting a clever fairy tale, which you will get. To your surprise however, and as revealed in the excerpt above, you will encounter a striking depth beneath its surface, one that carries an emotional, grounding, human touch even amid its world of pixies, courts of magic, and world-ending consequences. It begins with a deceptively simple premise: a kiss, a curious, impulsive one, the kind that changes everything because it was never supposed to happen. This single act becomes the catalyst that Escala Winter the protagonist, a mischievous pixie, beautifully propels into a layered tale about love, belonging and redemption.
We first encounter Escala not in the shiny halls of the Court of Dreams, but in a sun-dappled forest glade in the mortal world where she is hovering over a young man who is asleep beneath an oak tree. At this point you see her innocence, in a scene that strongly holds the seed for everything that follows. What is so impressive is how after that, intent and outcome get treated as separate things. We see this through how the laws of the Court of Dreams judge solely on outcomes, specifically the disruption of the barely twenty-year-old law of True Cycle, which governs the natural order of mortal life, and which in this case occurs when Escala kisses Jonathan, a herbalist who was meant to live his mortal life, pursue his craft and maybe die from natural causes in his own time. This is exactly where the chilling authority of the justice system emerges. It does not care whether she is naive, curious or longing for love, rather, it only sees the broken thread in the True Cycle that she causes. Here, the book forces you to hold two irreconcilable truths: one, the truth of her innocent intent and two, the truth of her catastrophic outcome. The separation of these two is what I believe forcefully, but in a good way wrenches the story from a simple fairy-tale, into something more complex, mature and deeply gripping.
The Court of Dreams will be one of the readers' favorite places to visit due to its breathtaking beauty and sweeping atmosphere. "...everything is infused with passion- wrapped in music, dance, and artistry..." It is a setting where gardens grow from whispered secrets and where laughter seems to hang perpetually in the air. What may fascinate readers the most is the knowledge that such beauty is upheld by laws that are cold, and which seems to have mercy or empathy as a forgotten language. The book will keep them smiling, thanks to its narrator, Wigfrith Foreverbloom, Bard Medic of Misty Springs, whose voice and tone as he tells Escala's story, remains warm and charming throughout. And then there is the romance. It comes out very different from modern romanticism, growing out of hardship and emotional vulnerability instead of instant attraction. This aspect reminds me of classic love stories where connections feel earned, not simply manufactured.
The supporting characters, from Morvena Winter who embodies the corruption of the law through a generational feud, to Lord Rowan Winter whose impossible choice pits a father's love against a ruler's duty, are meticulously crafted and beautifully serve as a mirror, catalyst or obstacle to the protagonist's journey. Others include Victor Graves, a warlock whose grief turns to vengeance, Rihanna, the friend who pays the ultimate price early in the read, and Teresa Whitmore, the protagonist's mother whose legacy is the precedent that both inspires and damns her daughter's actions.
Quill says: This story will give you the opportunity to witness the growth of a protagonist forced to mature faster than she expected, haunted by loss, mistakes, responsibility and the weight of atonement. Its stakes, which feel deeply personal, will draw you in quickly, and cause you to care fiercely for her, especially after you realize that in her world, curiosity carries a devastating price. If you love fairy tales with real consequences, slow-burn romance that is built on sincerity, and stories that balance charm with depth, Escala’s Wish (Tales of Valla Book 1) by David James is a story truly worth stepping into.
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