For fans of S.A. Chakraborty, Robin Hobb, and Martha Wells's Witch King, a page-turning standalone fantasy of necromancy and magical mayhem from Jenn Lyons, the acclaimed author of The Ruin of Kings.
Centuries ago, necromancy almost destroyed the world. That's how history remembers it.
History remembers it wrong.
Mathaiik has studied all his life to join the sacred order of the Idallik Knights, charged with defending their world from the forces of necromancy and the grim witches who practice it. Only vestiges of that cursed magic remain–nothing like the fabled days of the Grim Lords, the undead wizards who once nearly destroyed the entire world.
Until monsters once more begin to wake. But something about them is even stranger: whole forests coming alive and devouring anyone so foolish as to trespass, formerly peaceful animals mutating into savage carnivores... as if the land itself has turned upon humanity, in a riot of chaotic magic the Knights quickly prove powerless to stop.
It's a good thing, then, that the Grim Lords were never truly destroyed. One of their number sleeps below the Knights' very fortress. And when an army of twisted tree monsters attacks the young initiates in his charge, Math decides to do the unthinkable: he wakes her up.
This is only the beginning of his problems. Because said necromancer, Kaiataris, knows something history has forgotten. The threat of this wild magic is part of a cycle that has repeated countless times: life after death, chaos after order. And if she and Math can't find a new way to balance the scales, this won't just be the end of the world as they know it, but the end of all life, everywhere. Twice-nominated Astounding Award finalist JENN LYONS lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, her cats and a nearly infinite number of opinions on anything from Sumerian mythology to the correct way to make a martini. After spending thirty years working as a graphic artist, art director, and video game producer (in that order), Lyons now spends her days writing fantasy. She traces her geek roots back to playing first edition Dungeons & Dragons in grade school-a passion she's continued as an adult-as well as pursuing whatever craft or skill she's obsessed with this week: pyrography, beadwork, stenography, furniture upholstery, etc. Her five book epic fantasy series, A Chorus of Dragons, begins with The Ruin of Kings.
