“The Killing Spell,” a young adult fantasy mystery set about 200 years into the future in Los Angeles — where the majority of Hawaii’s population fled after a cataclysmic flood sank their islands — was released April 14 in the U.S. by Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
This debut book from native Hawaiian Shay Kauwe that’s also available in Canada and the United Kingdom follows the story of Kea Petrova — the youngest clan leader at the homestead — who ekes out a living by selling handcrafted magic spells. Her quiet life is upended by the murder by death spell of Angelo Reyes, a prominent Filipino activist, and she becomes the prime suspect. She has to act fast to find the killer and clear her name.
Language is at the heart of the tale. Throughout the book, Kauwe sprinkles Hawaiian phrases and one-word spells that will certainly delight logophiles. In her foreword, she explains that she included the diacritical marks to indicate how the words are pronounced to help readers. Linguaphiles will most assuredly agree with her when she says, “Languages are wonderful, beautiful, strange things that change and shift as they please.”
Kauwe’s love for language began in her childhood and she has always been partial to reading fantasy books. Some of those she enjoyed as a child — which have stood the test of time — are “The Hero and the Crown” by Robin McKinley and “The Old Kingdom” series by Garth Nix. But she never dreamed that she would one day join the ranks of fantasy authors. That happy outcome happened in a roundabout way.
“When I was 21, I moved to Russia — for a man. You can imagine how thrilled my parents were with that,” recounts Kauwe with irony. “But I was in love, and I knew that he was the one. He was, too! We’ve been happily married now for 10 years. That said, I made this huge leap and began living in St. Petersburg, Russia, learning Russian by necessity without thinking too much about it.
“There was this moment, maybe three years in, where I was sitting in our cold apartment in the middle of winter, watching Moana, and just sobbing,” Kauwe continues. “The language there, while not Hawaiian, was similar enough that I could make out words, and it struck me that here I was, half-way across the world, and I knew my partner’s mother tongue better than my own.”
“It was a light-bulb moment, and I knew then that I wanted to go home and learn Hawaiian,” adds Kauwe. “I foolishly thought it would be easy. I spoke Russian now! How hard could it be? So, I was incredibly frustrated when I couldn’t get things as quickly. Immersion was a huge part of my language learning process, and the hard truth is that as an adult, that isn’t a feasible option for many learners of Hawaiian. It is a consequence of colonization that we still have to deal with to this day. All of that frustration and shame, I took and funneled into this book, which is why it was so important for me to have a main character who struggled with relearning her indigenous tongue.“
Kauwe began writing “The Killing Spell” when she was still teaching. She was inspired by urban fantasy books which include the “Kate Daniels” series by Illona Andrews and the “Mercy Thompson” series by Patricia Briggs. She’s no longer in education, though she still has a full-time job and she admits that balancing working and writing is not easy. However, she has a rigid routine that helps her keep on track. She takes long walks in the mornings and listens to audiobooks to learn from writers she admires. When she gets home from work in the evenings, she writes between four to five hours, and tries to write at least 1,000 words a day.
Some authors get the inspiration for their characters from people they know or have met. But those in “The Killing Spell” are completely fictional and products of Kauwe’s imagination.
“I don’t base characters that I write off of real people, but I do use the names of family and friends quite often,” Kauwe clarifies. “Hawaiian names aren’t super common to see in literature, and especially not in fantasy, so I love to include the names of loved ones in my books; they get a kick out of it. Granted, I always make sure that the character with their name is nothing like them.”
However, Kauwe confesses that the book’s protagonist bears some resemblance to her. “Like many debut authors, I’m definitely guilty of inserting pieces of myself into Kea. We’re both stubborn, eldest daughters with a big sense of responsibility for our families. And also like Kea, I struggle with learning new languages. However, in writing ‘The Killing Spell,’ I found a sense of catharsis, a way to have more patience with myself in learning Hawaiian.”
Kauwe also admits to having a favorite secondary character in her book.
“Basilio was incredibly fun to write as he had a huge personality,” the author recalls. “I tend to like characters that are funny, charismatic, and enjoy teasing the people around them so Basilio fit the bill in every single way. I’d love to continue to write his story if possible.”
Additionally, Kauwe knew how her story would end at the outset.
“Funny enough, I needed to rewrite my book about eight times throughout this process,” she says. “However, the beginning and the ending never changed. I had a clear idea of what the emotional core and character arc for Kea would be, and that remained consistent during every revision. What changed was the progression of my plot and the clues that led Kea to her conclusion. The magic system also became a lot narrower in scope as I rewrote the book, so that greater emphasis was placed on language.”
Instead of setting “The Killing Spell” in her native Hawai‘i, her book takes place in LA and the reason is twofold.
“One, it was a nod at the reality of diaspora Hawaiians, who have in my lifetime become the majority which has been a wild shift to witness,” explains Kauwe. “Secondly, Hawai‘i can often feel really isolated from the larger politics of the U.S. This book is a conversation about indigenous rights to land, water, language, and culture, and I wanted those conflicts rubbing right up against the policies of the U.S. rather than separated by an ocean.”
Promoting a book can be exhausting, but it most often proves to be a gratifying endeavor for authors. “The Killing Spell” publicity tour, which was split into two sections, was certainly more of the latter. It commenced with a book launch at the Bishop Museum’s book store, Shop Pacifica in Honolulu run by the Hawaiian Council. Kauwe’s conversation partner at the event was Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, the USA Today bestselling Hawaiian author of “Every Drop a Man’s Nightmare” and a 2026 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She then embarked on a tour through the Hawaiian islands: Kahului, Maui; Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi; and Hilo on the Big Island.
The second leg of the tour took Kauwe through prominent West Coast cities. The first stop was Los Angeles, and a book signing was held at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena. Her conversation partner was New York Times bestselling Hawaiian author Keala Kendall of “How Far I’ll Go: A Twisted Tale” and of the YA horror “That Which Feeds Us.” From there she went to Seattle, Washington; and Portland, Oregon.
“My audience has been a lot of diaspora Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, which is amazing since that’s exactly my target demographic,” Kauwe marvels. “It’s hard to pick which city has been the most enthusiastic audience because each stop has exceeded my wildest expectations in terms of turnout! I don’t know that many people personally from each city, so it’s been so cool to meet so many folks excited to read ‘The Killing Spell.’ My most memorable event, though, has got to be heading out to Los Angeles. LA is the city that ‘The Killing Spell’ takes place in, so there’s something super special about getting to do an event here.”
An important part of the book tour is the Q & A session, which was a revealing experience. “The most unexpected question that I got during book signings was what magical properties Hawaiian Pidgin would have as language,” discloses Kauwe. “And the truth is that I never really settled on a great answer to that. I’d love to know what features speakers of Pidgin think it should have.”
Kauwe was asked several interesting questions but one particular query was never brought up. “I wish people would ask more questions about Kea’s love interest, Sora,” she discloses. “I love my little red-eyed, grouchy man and think he’s such a fun character to have in the story.”
On whether the story’s end after “living” with these characters for five years was a happy or bittersweet moment for her, Kauwe replies: “It’s definitely bittersweet to have this story end! I’d love to continue Kea’s story and dive deeper in the world of ‘The Killing Spell’ and explore different languages like Russian and Japanese in more depth, as well as Sora’s family.”
As to her book’s message or reader takeaway, Kauwe says, “It’s so important to learn our mother tongues, but we have to be kind to ourselves in the process. No one is perfect from the get-go, and quitting is the only way to truly fail at it.”
Readers who really liked “The Killing Spell” will be glad to know that Kauwe has something in store for them.
“I have a book coming out next year which is totally separate from ‘The Killing Spell.’ ‘House of Salt’ will be my first foray into the horror genre,” she reveals. “It’s a modern gothic set in Hawaii, about a young Hawaiian woman who scams tourists out of their money by pretending to be a kahuna and ‘cleansing’ them of evil, but when she’s invited to the estate of a wealthy hotel heiress she discovers that the ghost lurking there may actually be real — and the only thing that might save them all is a real kahuna. I’m really excited for this book and can’t wait to have it out in the world.”
If “The Killing Spell” is any indication, Kauwe’s next book promises to be another page-turner. It’s hard to imagine now that this is the same practical kid who never thought writing and publishing a book would be something she’d accomplish in her lifetime.
