In the aftermath of the Darkness, humanity clings to survival in a world enveloped in ice and dust. A young woman called Bramble lives among the Truhumans, protected from vicious mutants and cruel Techseer slavers by the mysterious Genelords. But secretly Bramble knows she is different, and with her adopted father Boab, a banished Genemaster, she embarks on a dangerous journey to find her own people. But the Techseers have purposes of their own, and Bramble's steps are dogged by a rogue Techseer called Johan who suspects her true nature. The fates of Bramble and Johan become ever more entwined as they are pitched into an adventure by turns epic and intimate, whose climax will determine nothing less than the fate of all humanity...