Divine Cities

An atmospheric and intrigue-filled novel of dead gods, buried histories, and a mysterious, protean city--from one of America's most acclaimed young fantasy writers. The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions-until its divine protectors were killed. Now Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world's new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself-first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it-stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy. Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov's oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country's most accomplished spies, dispatched to catch a murderer. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem-and that Bulikov's cruel reign may not yet be over.

The city of Voortyashtan was once the home of the goddess of death, war and destruction, but now it's little more than a ruin. General Turyin Mulaghesh is called out of retirement and sent to this hellish place to find a Saypuri secret agent who's gone AWOL in the middle of a mission. But the ghosts of past wars have followed her there, and soon she begins to wonder what happened to the souls in the afterlife when the gods were defeated by her people, the Polis. Do the dead sleep soundly in the land of death? Or do they have plans of their own?

"Where your shadow falls there shall be night everlasting. And all shall dwell within the night, and the night shall swallow all." Sigrud je Harkvaldsson has nothing left to live for. He is a fugitive and an exile, wanted for murder throughout the empire of Saypur. His entire existence has seemed only to visit suffering and death upon those he wants most to protect-while he himself has emerged from each battle cruelly unscathed, inexplicably immune to forces both natural and divine. Then his closest friend and ally, former Prime Minister Shara Komayd, is assassinated. Suddenly, Sigrud's life has a purpose: to find Shara's killers and make them suffer for what they've done. And Sigrud has much experience in matters of suffering. Yet as he pursues his quarry with his customary terrifying efficiency, Sigrud learns that far more than revenge is at stake. Because Shara's assassin is no mere mortal, and her murder was just the beginning. Using death after death to fuel his powers, the killer plans to bring down a night of eternal darkness, and rule within it. Only Sigrud-and the strange curse that has destroyed his life-can stop him.