The cover art for Leah Cypess’s young adult fantasy novel DeathSworn has been revealed, featuring a gothic glimpse at the forthcoming novel.

Leah Cypess’s young adult fantasy novel DeathSworn isn’t due for release until the Spring of next year, but the book is already being compared to the works of Cinda Williams Chima and Kristin Cashore. Check out the newly released (and totally eerie) cover right here:

According to the synopsis, DeathSworn will tell the story of a young woman named Ileni, who loses her skill with magic (along with it, her status and the man she loves) and agrees to act as a tutor in magic to a guild of assassins. But the danger is intense, as the two previous tutors died under mysterious circumstances.

“Beneath the assassins’ caves,” the synopsis says, “Ileni will discover a new place and a new purpose… and a new and dangerous love.” Ileni must conceal the truth of her lost magic, and uncover the answers behind her predecessors’ mysterious – but “what she discovers will change not only her future, but the future of her people, the assassins… and possibly the entire world.”

The first installment of a planned duology, DeathSworn will bring Leah Cypess back into the young adult world for the first time since Nightspell was published in 2011. Cypess’s first novel, Mistwood, was published in 2010, and received a starred review from Kirkus.

Check out Hypable’s author interview for more information about Leah Cypess.