Welcome to Alkhalend Jewel of the Waters capital of Usmai greatest of the Successor States
inheritor to the necromantic dominion that was the Moeribandi Empire and tomorrow's frontline
in the Palleseen's relentless march to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world.
Loret is fresh off the boat and just in time. As Cohort-Invigilator of Correct Appreciation
Outreach department she's here as aide to the Palleseen Resident Sage-Invigilator Angilly.
And Sage-Invigilator Angilly - Gil to her friends - needs a second in the spectacularly illegal
culturally offensive and diplomatically inadvisable duel she must fight at midnight. Outreach
that part of the Pal machine that has to work within the imperfection of the rest of the world
has a lot of room for the illegal the unconventional the unorthodox. But just how much
unorthodoxy can Gil and Loret get away with? As a succession crisis looms as a long-forgotten
feat of necromantic engineering nears fruition as pirate kings lizard armies and demons
gather as old gods wane and new gods wax sooner or later Gil and Loret will have to settle
their ledger. Just as well they are both very very good with a blade. THE TYRANT
PHILOSOPHERS SERIES 'Endlessly creative . . . so much invention peeking around every corner -
Patrick Ness 'Dense dark ingenious ironic complex often funny and always smart' Locus
'A master at the height of his powers. This is epic symphonic fantasy weaving a breakneck plot
through a sumptuously dangerous world' Ian Green
