The fourth book in the epic Chaos Queen series. "Perfect for fans of Daniel Abraham and Brandon Sanderson." (Library Journal on Duskfall)

IN THE PITILESS VOID, EVEN THE STARS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM

Many forces converge on the great city of Triah, bent on its destruction. By sea, Empress Cova of Roden sails with her armada, determined to bring the rival nation under her yoke. From land, Winter, the Chaos Queen, brings her tiellan army, set on revenge. And their advance brings a yet more terrible army still: awoken by the Chaos Queen's powers, daemons mass on the border between worlds, waiting for a way in.

Caught between the encroaching foes, a small group holds the key to saving the Sfaera from destruction: Knot, the former assassin; Cinzia, the exiled priestess; and Astrid, the vampire-child. But the only way to do so is to step into the Void beyond worlds - from which no one can return unchanged.

"Perfect for fans of Daniel Abraham and Brandon Sanderson." Library Journal on Duskfall

The Nine Daemons are on the rise. Once believed dead and gone, Daemons have found a way back into the world. But the only people who can withstand their assault are spread across the face of the Sfaera.

Free at last from the influence of assassins and emperors alike, the psimancer Winter sails back to her hometown only to find a new trouble stirring. Meanwhile, the heretic sisters Jane and Cinzia Oden are beset by supernatural attacks. And soon their allies, the vampire-girl Astrid and the former assassin Knot, must face the terrifying Black Matron.

As new battles are fought, the Daemons creep ever closer to freedom, and the legend of the Chaos Queen may soon be made anew.

A new religion is rising, gathering followers drawn by rumors of prophetess Jane Oden. Her sister Cinzia-one-time Cantic priestess-is by her side, but fears that Jane will lead them to ruin. For both the Church and the Nazaniin assassins are still on their trail, and much worse may come. Knot, his true nature now revealed if not truly understood, is haunted by the memories of others, and is not the ally he once was. Astrid travels to Tinska to find answers for her friend, but the child-like vampire has old enemies who have been waiting for her return. And beyond the Blood Gate in the northern empire of Roden, a tiellan woman finds herself with a new protector. One who wants to use her extraordinary abilities for his own ends...

The start of a rich and gripping fantasy series of dark magic, oppression and rebellion perfect for fans of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn and Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. Stuck with arrows and close to death, a man is pulled from the icy waters of the Gulf of Nahl. As he is nursed back to health by a local fisherman, two things become very clear: he has no idea who he is, and he can kill a man with terrifying ease. The fisherman is a tiellan, a race which has long been oppressed and grown wary of humans. His daughter, Winter, is a seemingly quiet young woman, but behind her placid mask she has her demons. She is addicted to frostfire - a substance that both threatens to destroy her and simultaneously gives her phenomenal power. A young priestess, Cinzia, hears the troubling news of an uprising in her native city of Navone. Absconding from the cloistered life that she has kept for the last seven years, she knows she must make the long journey home. The flames of rebellion threatening her church and all that she believes in are bad enough, but far worse is the knowledge that the heretic who sparked the fire is her own sister. These three characters may have set out on different paths, but fate will bring them together on one thrilling and perilous adventure.