Visar resultat för..."Kingfisher Books Ltd"

An instant USA Today & Indie bestseller. Winner of the Locus Award for Best Horror Novel 2023 and finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novella 2023.From the multi-award-winning author of The Twisted Ones comes What Moves the Dead, a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher.”When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

Recently divorced and staring down the barrel of moving back in with her parents, Carrot really needs a break. And a place to live. So when her Uncle Earl, owner of the eclectic Wonder Museum, asks her to stay with him in exchange for cataloguing the exhibits, of course she says yes. The Wonder Museum is packed with taxidermy, shrunken heads, and an assortment of Mystery Junk. For Carrot, it's not creepy at all: she grew up with it. What's creepy is the hole that's been knocked in one of the museum walls, and the corridor behind it. There's just no space for a corridor in the museum's thin walls - or the concrete bunker at the end of it, or the strange islands beyond the bunker's doors, or the whispering, unseen things lurking in the willow trees.Carrot has stumbled into a strange and horrifying world, and They are watching her. Strewn among the islands are the remains of Their meals - and Their experiments. And even if she manages to make it back home again, she can't stop calling Them after her...

In this brilliant sequel to Clockwork Boys, old foes resurface, and Slate and Caliban are forced to deal with the echoes of their past choices. From New York Times bestselling, Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher.Slate and her crew have arrived in Anuket City, the city of artificial marvels where Clockwork Boys are created. But the secret of their existence is as mysterious as ever. Slate has a history in Anuket City, history which just won't leave her alone. And her increasing attraction to Caliban is driving her up the wall. Caliban is, of course, too noble to do anything about it.As Slate's history in the city grows more entangled with their mission, the group's chances of survival seem to be getting ever slimmer. If they're to stand a chance of destroying the Clockwork Boys, Slate must confront her past, and find a way to stop it from killing them all.

In the first book of this touching and darkly comic duology, a paladin, a forger, an assassin and a scholar ride out of town on an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes.When forger Slate is convicted of treason, she faces a death sentence. But her unique gift for sniffing out magic (literally) earns her a reprieve—of sorts.Along with a formerly demon-possessed paladin named Caliban, her murderous ex-lover, and an irritating sexist scholar, Slate sets off on a mission to learn about the Clockwork Boys, deadly mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom who have been terrorising their lands. If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but they must survive a long journey through enemy territory to reach Anuket City. And Slate has her own reasons to dread returning to her former home.Slate and her crew aren’t the first to be sent on this mission. None of their predecessors have returned, and Slate can’t help but feel they’ve exchanged one death sentence for another. Her increasing closeness to Caliban isn’t helping matters: for the first time in a long while, Slate might actually care about surviving.

From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Nine Goblins, a novella of low fantasy and high mischief.A funny cosy fantasy novella, perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes and Thornhedge.No one knows exactly how the Goblin War began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy, sheep-stealing, henhouse-raiding, obnoxious, rude, and violent. Goblins would actually agree with all this, and might throw in "cowardly" and "lazy" too for good measure.But goblins don't go around killing people for fun, no matter what the propaganda posters say. And when a confrontation with an evil wizard lands a troop of nine goblins deep behind enemy lines, goblin sergeant Nessilka must figure out how to keep her hapless band together and get them home in one piece, despite a path filled with elves, trolls, monsters, and that most terrifying of creatures...a human being.

Instant USA Today & Indie bestseller. Fans of Madeline Miller, Leigh Bardugo and Alix E. Harrow will love this Hugo Award-winning dark and compelling fantasy about sisterhood, impossible tasks and the price of power.WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL 2023After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra-the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter-has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself.Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince-if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra's family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.

There's a princess trapped in a tower. This isn't her story.Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?If only.Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He's heard there's a curse here that needs breaking, but it's a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold...

THE 2025 HUGO, NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST NOVELFrom New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes a dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic. Perfect for fans of Naomi Novik, Alix E. Harrow and Nettle & Bone.Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms—there are no secrets in this house! Cordelia isn’t allowed to have a single friend. The only time she feels truly free is on her daily rides with her mother’s beautiful white horse, Falada.But more than a few quirks set her mother apart. Other parents can’t force their​ daughters to be silent and motionless—obedient—for hours or days on end. Other mothers aren’t . . . sorcerers. After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage. Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother. How the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. She knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.

In this witty fantasy horror from New York Times bestselling, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author T. Kingfisher, a young woman seeking a fresh start is confronted by ancient gods, malevolent supernatural forces, and eccentric neighbours in an isolated desert town.Perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Chuck Tingle, and Rachel Harrison.With only a few dollars to her name and her beloved dog Copper by her side, Selena flees her past in the city to claim her late aunt's house in the desert town of Quartz Creek.Selena loves the strange beauty of the desert. But the people of Quartz Creek share their town with others, old gods and spirits whose claim to the land long predates their human neighbors. When Selena's search for answers leads her to her late aunt's journal, she discovers a sinister truth about her new home: it's the ground of an ancient god known simply as "Snake-Eater", to whom it seems Aunt Amelia owed a debt.Snake-Eater has taken a sinister liking to Selena. And now that she's the owner of his home, he's hell-bent on collecting everything he was promised.

THE 2025 HUGO NOMINEE FOR BEST NOVELLAThe hair-raising follow-up to the award-winning What Moves the Dead. Alex Easton returns to their home country of Gallacia, only to be confronted by a strange new horror.When Alex Easton travels to Gallacia as a favour to their friend, Britain's foremost mycologist Miss Potter, they find their home empty, the caretaker dead, and the grounds blanketed by an uncanny silence. The locals won’t talk about what happened to the caretaker. None of them will set foot on the grounds.Whispers of an unearthly breath-stealing creature from Gallacian folklore don’t trouble practical Easton. But as their sleep is increasingly disturbed by vivid nightmares and odd happenings perplex the household, they are forced to confront the possibility that there is more to the old folk stories than they'd like to believe.A dark shadow hangs over Easton's house. And nobody will rest until justice is done.

Award-winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher, presents a terrifying tale of hidden worlds and monstrous creations...When Mouse's dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there's more-Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather's journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants...until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors-because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they're looking for you. And if she doesn't face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

The next novella in the New York Times bestselling Sworn Soldier series, featuring Alex Easton investigating the dark, mysterious depths of a coal mine in America, from Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author T. Kingfisher. Perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Stephen Graham Jones.Alex Easton does not want to visit America.They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted.But when their old friend Dr. Denton summons them to help find his lost cousin—who went missing in that very mine—well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do...

Dark and twisted family roots threaten to strangle their home's foundations in this chilling haunted house novel from the award-winning master of modern horror, T. Kingfisher.In this ordinary North Carolina suburb, family secrets are always in bloom.Samantha Montgomery pulls into the driveway of her family home to find a massive black vulture perched on the mailbox, staring at the house.Inside, everything has changed. Gone is the eclectic warmth Sam expects; instead the walls are a sterile white. Now, it’s very important to say grace before dinner, and her mother won’t hear a word against Sam’s long-dead and little-missed grandmother, who was the first to put down roots in this small southern town.The longer Sam stays, the stranger things get. And every day, more vultures circle overhead…

The roguish charlatan Astarion will free himself from a centuries-long fate of servitude or die (a second time) trying—in this decadently dark fantasy adventure by Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author T. Kingfisher.You’re too pretty to die.Astarion Ancunin was supposed to be a magistrate, not a vampire spawn. He was supposed to serve the law, not the vicious vampire lord Cazador Szarr. And he was supposed to drink fine wine, not rat blood. Alas—the city of Baldur’s Gate cares little for what’s supposed to happen.Though he has been powerless to resist his master’s bidding, haunting the nighttime streets to fetch warm blood, Astarion has never surrendered his hope. One day, this nightmare must end. He just has to find out how.When the vampire lord announces a twisted competition for his favor, an opportunity presents itself in the form of a rare prize . . . and an unlikely alliance. The blood of a dead god is buried deep beneath Baldur’s Gate, and, to get it, Astarion will need the help of a handsome Aasimar paladin named Hahn den Suriel.There are just a few problems. Astarion is not supposed to trust his fellow spawn. He’s not supposed to go out into the city for his own ends rather than the vampire lord’s. And he’s certainly not supposed to strike a deal with a stranger whose golden eyes can snare even a blackened, undead heart.But the city of Baldur’s Gate cares little for what’s supposed to happen.

A darkly magical retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” for fans of Ava Reid and Katherine Arden,from the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Nettle & Bone.Gerta has been in love with her neighbor, Kay, for as long as she can remember. Kay thinks Gerta is...fine.When Kay is stolen away by the mysterious Snow Queen, it's up to Gerta to find him. Her journey will take her through a dangerous land of snow and witchcraft, spirit roads and shape-shifters. Accompanied by a talking raven and a strangely entrancing bandit girl named Janna, Gerta travels further north than north to confront the Snow Queen and rescue Kay.The journey will be dangerous, but the unpredictable currents of her own heart might be the most frightening thing of all.

The next novella in the New York Times bestselling Sworn Soldier series, featuring Alex Easton investigating the dark, mysterious depths of a coal mine in America, from Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author T. Kingfisher. Perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Stephen Graham Jones.Alex Easton does not want to visit America.They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted.But when their old friend Dr. Denton summons them to help find his lost cousin—who went missing in that very mine—well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do...

In the first book of this touching and darkly comic duology set in the bestselling world of the Saint of Steel series, a paladin, a forger, an assassin and a scholar ride out of town on an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes.From the New York Times bestselling and multi-award winning author T. Kingfisher.When forger Slate is convicted of treason, she faces a death sentence. But her unique gift for sniffing out magic (literally) earns her a reprieve—of sorts.Along with a formerly demon-possessed paladin named Caliban, her murderous ex-lover, and an irritating sexist scholar, Slate sets off on a mission to learn about the Clockwork Boys, deadly mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom who have been terrorizing their lands. If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but first they must survive a long journey through enemy territory to reach Anuket City. And Slate has her own reasons to dread returning to her former home.Slate and her crew aren’t the first to be sent on this mission. None of their predecessors have returned, and Slate can’t help but feel they’ve exchanged one death sentence for another. Her increasing closeness to Caliban isn’t helping matters: for the first time in a long while, Slate might actually care about surviving.

THE 2025 HUGO, NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST NOVELFrom New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes a dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic. Perfect for fans of Naomi Novik, Alix E. Harrow and Nettle & Bone.Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms—there are no secrets in this house! Cordelia isn’t allowed to have a single friend. The only time she feels truly free is on her daily rides with her mother’s beautiful white horse, Falada.But more than a few quirks set her mother apart. Other parents can’t force their​ daughters to be silent and motionless—obedient—for hours or days on end. Other mothers aren’t . . . sorcerers. After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage. Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother. How the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. She knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.

An instant USA Today & Indie bestseller. Winner of the Locus Award for Best Horror Novel 2023 and finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novella 2023.From the multi-award-winning author of The Twisted Ones comes What Moves the Dead, a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher."When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

In this witty fantasy horror from New York Times bestselling, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author T. Kingfisher, a young woman seeking a fresh start is confronted by ancient gods, malevolent supernatural forces, and eccentric neighbours in an isolated desert town.Perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Chuck Tingle, and Rachel Harrison.With only a few dollars to her name and her beloved dog Copper by her side, Selena flees her past in the city to claim her late aunt’s house in the desert town of Quartz Creek.Selena loves the strange beauty of the desert. But the people of Quartz Creek share their town with others, old gods and spirits whose claim to the land long predates their human neighbors. When Selena’s search for answers leads her to her late aunt’s journal, she discovers a sinister truth about her new home: it’s the ground of an ancient god known simply as “Snake-Eater”, to whom it seems Aunt Amelia owed a debt.Snake-Eater has taken a sinister liking to Selena. And now that she’s the owner of his home, he’s hell-bent on collecting everything he was promised.

A gorgeous anniversary special edition of the beloved horror classic from multi Hugo and Nebula-award winning author, T. Kingfisher.A young woman discovers a strange portal in her uncle's house, leading to madness and terror in this gripping cosmic horror.PRAY THAT THEY ARE HUNGRY...Kara finds the words in the mysterious bunker that she's discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle's house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring this peculiar area-only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts...and the more one fears them, the stronger they become.With her distinctive "delightfully fresh and subversive" (SF Bluestocking) prose and the strange, sinister wonder found in Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, The Hollow Places is a compelling and white-knuckled horror novel that you won't be able to put down.

WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVELLA 2024.An original, subversive fairytale about a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways, perfect for fans of Alix E. Harrow and Katherine Arden.From USA Today bestselling author comes an original, subversive fairytale about a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways, perfect for fans of Alix E. Harrow and Katharine Arden.There's a princess trapped in a tower. This isn't her story.Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?If only.Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He's heard there's a curse here that needs breaking, but it's a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold...

Dark and twisted family roots threaten to strangle their home's foundations in this chilling haunted house novel from the award-winning master of modern horror, T. Kingfisher.In this ordinary North Carolina suburb, family secrets are always in bloom.Samantha Montgomery pulls into the driveway of her family home to find a massive black vulture perched on the mailbox, staring at the house.Inside, everything has changed. Gone is the eclectic warmth Sam expects; instead the walls are a sterile white. Now, it's very important to say grace before dinner, and her mother won't hear a word against Sam's long-dead and little-missed grandmother, who was the first to put down roots in this small southern town.The longer Sam stays, the stranger things get. And every day, more vultures circle overhead...

In this ordinary North Carolina suburb, family secrets are always in bloom.Samantha Montgomery pulls into the driveway of her family home to find a massive black vulture perched on the mailbox, staring at the house.Inside, everything has changed. Gone is the eclectic warmth Sam expects; instead the walls are a sterile white. Now, it’s very important to say grace before dinner, and her mother won’t hear a word against Sam’s long-dead and little-missed grandmother, who was the first to put down roots in this small southern town.The longer Sam stays, the stranger things get. And every day, more vultures circle overhead…

THE 2025 HUGO AND LOCUS AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST NOVELLAThe hair-raising follow-up to the award-winning What Moves the Dead. Alex Easton returns to their home country of Gallacia, only to be confronted by a strange new horror.When Alex Easton travels to Gallacia as a favour to their friend, Britain's foremost mycologist Miss Potter, they find their home empty, the caretaker dead, and the grounds blanketed by an uncanny silence. The locals won’t talk about what happened to the caretaker. None of them will set foot on the grounds.Whispers of an unearthly breath-stealing creature from Gallacian folklore don’t trouble practical Easton. But as their sleep is increasingly disturbed by vivid nightmares and odd happenings perplex the household, they are forced to confront the possibility that there is more to the old folk stories than they'd like to believe.A dark shadow hangs over Easton's house. And nobody will rest until justice is done.

EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY IS A KILLER. EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY IS A SUSPECT.BUT WHICH OF THEM IS A MURDERER?'The best thing I've read in ages' STUART MACBRIDE'Fun, witty and exciting. This is not one to miss!' 5***** READER REVIEW'A must-read for every fan of the mystery genre' JANE HARPER_________I knew our family reunion wouldn't end well. But I didn't expect murder.Maybe I should have known better. After all, everyone in my family is a killer. My parents, my siblings, my in-laws . . . even me. The deaths weren't all deliberate, of course. Accidents happen.So when a body is found in the snow, it's clear it's the work of a Cunningham. But which one? And why?I'll give you one clue: it wasn't me.But a piece of advice? Never trust a Cunningham . . ._________'I absolutely LOVED it. Engaging, entertaining and charming' MARIAN KEYES'Clever, unexpected, and not to be missed' KARIN SLAUGHTER'Deliciously dark, funny and intriguing' ALEX PAVESIWhy readers are loving Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone'Sharp. Slick. Original' 5***** Reader Review'Darkly atmospheric and full of mystery. I loved it' 5***** Reader Review'This is without doubt going to be the standout novel of the year' 5***** Reader Review'I absolutely loved this from start to finish. Dark, atmospheric and funny, I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good murder mystery' 5***** Reader Review

A gripping and claustrophobic rural gothic horror novel about an isolated family who worship the bog that surrounds them, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Stephen Graham Jones.It is said that the Haddesleys have too much of the bog in their blood to live in the world. Living an isolated existence in the Appalachians, they observe strange rituals and worship the forest and mud that surrounds them.When Charles, the patriarch of the family, reveals he is dying, his children rally around him, only to find their fraying bonds tearing apart one by one, and their beliefs upended. For Wenna, the only Haddesley to have ever escaped the forest, it means coming home to face difficult truths. For Charlie, the eldest son, his father's death means facing up to new, terrifying responsibilities.Because the bog is waiting, ever-growing, ever-hungry, and if the Haddesley children aren't careful, they will awaken something they have tried to keep at bay for a century.

A New Scientist best new science-fiction book🚀 'Truly un-put-downable in its purest sense' Chloe Gong, author of These Violent Delights🚀 'The ultimate haunted house story, in space' Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger🚀 'This story slides and slithers from creepy and atmospheric to skin-crawling, edge-of-your-seat terror' T. Kingfisher, author of The Hollow Places__________A GHOST SHIP. A SALVAGE CREW. UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS.Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn't right.Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.__________🚀 Readers love Dead Silence 🚀🚀 'Eerie and sinister - I loved it!'🚀 'I couldn't put this book down'🚀 'Pages turn themselves'🚀 'Remarkable blend of horror, psychological tension and sci-fi'

The stunning sequel to the award-winning Talonsister, full of romance and treachery, powerful magic and devastating choices. Perfect for fans of Andrea Stewart, John Gwynn and Samantha Shannon.The Othanim have conquered Brittletain. Their murderous leader, Icaraine, plans to feed Brittletain’s queens to her monstrous son. But total victory over the Othanim’s ancient enemy, the griffins, still eludes her. If Brittletain’s resistance, led by Princess Epona, can secure an alliance with the griffins, they may still stand a chance.Envoy Kaeto has returned to the Imperium, hiding Felldir and Belise in a ruined castle. He believes both his friends and his attempt to murder Gynid Tyleigh have escaped the empress’s notice. Yet secrets are not so easy to keep in the Imperium. Kaeto will do anything to protect the people he loves – and so finds himself en route to Brittletain as ambassador to the Othanim.Leven, Cillian and Ynis have spent the last two years tracking Ynis’s griffin sister, T’rook, a prisoner of Tyleigh. Meanwhile, Leven’s health is deteriorating, and Cillian – exiled and disgraced – is tormented by strange voices, who tell him of the return of the mythic Green Man to Brittletain.There is no hope for humanity in a world ruled by Icaraine. But the price of defeating her might be almost too heavy to bear.