New York Times bestselling fantasist Raymond E. Feist returns to a beleaguered realm of wonders and magic -- where war is an enduring legacy; where blood swells the rivers and nourishes the land. Attend to this hitherto untold chapter in the violent history of Midkemia -- a towering saga of great conflicts, brave acts and insidious intrigues.

It is the story of a traitor who rejects the brutality of his warlike kind and casts his lot with the human targets of their fierce aggression. It tells of mysterious deaths and sinister machinations -- and signs of a time when the fate of many civilizations rested in the able, unfaltering hands of Riftwar veterans Squire Locklear and Jimmy the Hand. It chronicles the powerful awakening of Owyn -- apprentice magician of untried strengths -- and celebrates the selfless achievements of Pug, the great sorcerer of two worlds.

Welcome now to astonishing new corners of a world you have not yet fully explored -- and prepare to experience true excitement, blood chilling terror... and the triumph born from the doom aimed at the beating heart of a kingdom.